A conventional JINI is a Java-based network technology proposed by Sun Microsystems, which identifies and uses an apparatus for providing desired services regardless of a base protocol, wherein the technology has been developed to be employed in a home network and an office network. Since the JINI uses the Java technology, every device for providing a JINI service has a Java virtual machine (JVM). Further, communication between devices is carried out based on a remote method invocation (RMI) middleware. An operation of a conventional JINI technology is described as follows. Services provided by each device having the Java virtual machine are registered for a lookup service (LUS). Next, another device on a network requests a device, which is capable of providing a desired service among the services registered for the LUS to provide the desired service. Then, the corresponding device provides the requested service.
For example, when a device such as a digital camera, a network printer and so on is connected to a network, services provided by, e.g., the digital camera and the network printer, i.e., taking pictures, outputting the pictures and the like, are registered for the LUS. Then, devices requiring such services request the services from the digital camera and the network printer and then are provided with corresponding services. The JINI technology can provide an effective distributed network due to communication through the RMI, mobility of a code based on the Java technology and independent characteristics of a platform. However, it is difficult to guarantee QoS (Quality of Service) of multimedia data because of characteristics of TCP/IP.
Therefore, a JINI Surrogate scheme for supporting an IEEE1394 interface technology has been suggested in order to transceive isochronous data such as the multimedia data. However, the JINI surrogate scheme has problems in that advantages of the JINI technology are not provided and only IEEE1394 interface is used.
The IEEE1394 interface technology acknowledged by IEEE in 1995 provides an interface of digital AV devices such as a DTV, a DVC, a digital set top box and so on. Such technology is widely used for peripheral devices of a computer such as a CD-ROM and a hard disk. Further, the technology is being employed in home electronics such as a digital TV and a DVCR. In this case, IEC61883 is used as a standard for using IEEE1394. The standard defines a protocol for establishing a connection between devices to transceive AV data and assigning channels. A home audio video interoperability (HAVi) based on IEC61883 is a middleware performing similar functions with the JINI by using IEEE1394 as a network protocol. The HAVi is effectively used between devices using IEEE1394 interface but is hardly interoperable with TCP/IP, i.e., a protocol of a generalized information mobile device, since a specialized technique is used in IEEE1394.